Joe Smith

Joe spent 20 years of occasional award-winning dry stone walling from 1969-89. He worked with Andy Goldsworthy on major curvilinear wall structures from 1989 to 1993 in the UK, France, USA and Australia. In 1995 he designed the first of a series of dry-slate vases. He has works in many private collections in South Carolina, New York, France, London, Dublin, St Helier, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Private patrons include two Duchesses and a senior member of the Royal family; Public commissions include SNH, The National Trust for Scotland and a number of Scottish Regional Councils. In 2005 he received a Liberal Arts MA Hons (1st class) and a post graduate MPhil in 2008.

I carve stone occasionally, in a modest fashion, but I am essentially a builder upper, rather than a chipper away! I have long been fascinated by the fissile nature of slate. Traditionally, its broad, flat cleaving plane is what is emphasised. Perversely, I choose to celebrate the slates’ thin, broken edges, building them up layer on layer to achieve a curvaciousness of form. My now extensive range includes spheres, seats, ‘topiary’ and formal obelisks: My latest is Westmorland green slate Pear No2, which was shown at on form 2012.